


Memories

by TheUnfortunateCat



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Classic Doctor Who References, Gen, Short One Shot, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26114008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnfortunateCat/pseuds/TheUnfortunateCat
Summary: “So, Doc, I have a question I’ve wanted to ask for a while.”(The companions get curious about regeneration. The Doctor shows them some pictures.)
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & The Fam
Comments: 9
Kudos: 52





	Memories

“So, Doc, I have a question I’ve wanted to ask for a while.”

The Doctor whirled around, a welding mask still over her face. She pushed it up with one gloved hand, almost as an afterthought, looking at Graham expectantly. “Yeah?”

He fidgeted with the zipper of his jacket. “Well… before, when we first met yah, you seemed… surprised? That you were a woman?”

“Yeah, actually, I was curious about that too,” Ryan piped up from where he sat with his brand-new GameBoy.

“Same with me,” Yaz added.

The Doctor blinked, surprised. 

_ You should probably tell them, _ a voice, that sounded almost like her previous face, whispered.  _ Just in case they have to watch. _

“Well,” the Time Lady began, setting down her screwdriver — not sonic, for once — and averting her eyes. “Uhm… so, my… species, has a special, uh, ability, called regeneration.” All three pairs of eyes were trained on her. She wet her lips. “Regenerating… mm, it only happens when a Ti- er, one of my species, well, dies.” She played with one of her gloves anxiously. “It, basically, resets the body, clearing all injuries or ailments… but, in the process, creates a whole different person. The memories are still there, still the same, but everything else…” she waved her hand, making a face. “...um… including gender.”

The humans stared at her with obvious bewilderment. 

“Does it hurt?” Yaz asked.

The Doctor pursed her lips. “...a little.”

Graham cleared his throat. “Well, besides that, it seems pretty handy.”

“How many times have you done it?” Ryan asked curiously.

“Thirteen, give or take,” the Time Lady replied distractedly, her mind wandering, before she snapped back into reality and clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh I know! How about I show you?”

Graham’s eyes boggled. “You’re gonna kill yourself?”

The Doctor reeled back. “What? No! I meant how about I show you  _ pictures _ of my previous faces?”

Graham blinked. “Ah.” He blinked again. “That makes more sense.”

It took an absurdly long time for the Doctor to locate a photo album in the expansive storage spaces in the TARDIS, but when she did find one —  _ underneath _ a bookshelf in the library, no less — the humans crowded around her as she flipped the dusty folder open for the first time in… a while.

“Whoa, is that  _ you? _ ” Yaz exclaimed, pointing to one of the oldest black-and-white pictures.

The Doctor smiled sadly, and shook her head. “No, that’s my granddaughter,” she said softly, gently tracing Susan’s smiling face with her finger.

“You have a granddaughter?” Ryan said, surprised.

She simply nodded. “I did.”

The three humans exchanged matching looks.  _ Past-tense. _

The Doctor interrupted their thoughts by pointing to another photo. “ _ This  _ is me.”

Yaz’s eyes grew huge. “You’re kidding.”

The Time Lady chuckled. “Nope. This was my first face, before I ever regenerated.”

“Oh.” Graham couldn’t think of anything else to say. Their Doctor was so young and spunky compared to this white-haired old man, who wasn’t even smiling in the picture. 

“Who’s that?” Ryan asked, pointing at another picture of a man and a woman, both almost middle-aged.

“Ah, Ian and Barbara,” the Doctor said, a fond, nostalgic look on her face. “They were my very first human companions.” She wrinkled her nose suddenly. “I… maybe, sorta, kidnapped them? Susan wouldn’t stop pestering me about it later…”

Looking back up, she realized that all three of the others were staring at her. “What?”

Yaz just shook her head. “Nothing.” Ryan opened his mouth, but she shot him a firm look, and his jaw snapped closed with a  _ click. _ Yaz gestured at another photo. “Who’s the guy with the curly hair?”

The Doctor’s eyes lit up. “That was my third face! I had a bit of a love for velvet and ruffles back then…”

They all sat there for nearly two hours, just marveling over all the memory-filled pictures and listening to the Doctor’s grand stories. They looked at newer, more colourful photos of a brown-haired man and a young blonde (“That’s another you?” “Yeah.” “And that’s… Rose, right?” “...yeah.”), older, more fuzzy photos of  _ another  _ brown-haired man, just with a hat and a striped scarf (“That’s the longest scarf I’ve ever seen.” “I made it myself!”), and eventually, a grey-haired Scotsman and a young woman with frizzy dark hair. 

“That’s the face I had before, y’know, this one,” the Doctor said, pointing at the grumpy-looking man. 

“You weren’t kidding, before,” Graham murmured.

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow. Suddenly, her voice took on a notably  _ Scottish _ tinge. “You really think I would kid about this sorta thing? Why would—“ she cut herself off, blinking hard.

Yaz furrowed her brow in concern. “Doctor? Are you alright?”

The Time Lor— Lady took a breath, shaking her head slightly, as if to clear it, before giving the humans a tight smile. “‘Course I am. Just… caught up in the memories, is all.” 

The others glanced at each other, before Graham nodded. “You should take a rest, Doc. You look kinda under the weather.” 

The Doctor faltered, then nodded back, closing the photo album. “Yeah. Yeah, I will.”

As the three humans filed out of the room, leaving the Doctor to her rest, she drew her legs up onto the couch. She took a look back, to make sure that the rest had gone, before opening the folder up again. Her beloved granddaughter stared up at her from the photo, and before she knew it, her eyes welled up with tears. 

Curling in on herself, she tucked the album close her chest, laying back against the comfortable cushions, and slowly fell asleep to the gentle, unchanging hum of the TARDIS.

(End)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Constructive criticism is appreciated and encouraged.


End file.
